Hey guys! Proud to introduce the latest addition to my 'summer photo shoot series' showcasing some of my favourite vintage Tamiya icons. I can still remember as a 12 year old lad in 89 first seeing the adverts and reviews for this buggy in Radio Race Car, and RC Model cars magazines.... and remember clearly Jamie Booth winning races with it at a competitive level. Back then it was sadly way out of my price range! The itch never went away all these years down the line, and I continued to crave one for my vintage collection! Unfortunately there isn't many good un molested examples knocking around these days, these are getting quite hard to find now. Despite the super Astute being a mechanically superior car, only the original would do! 🤣 Tottaly over engineered, extremely heavy, loads of slop in the suspension, and lots of weak areas just don't detract from the sheer beauty of this buggy! 😍 I really want to take it for a drive, but knowing how brittle these vintage ABS plastics are, and how hard/impossible new replacement hubs/wishbones are to find I'm really finding it hard to pluck up the courage to do so. Guess this one will stay on the shelf..... and in the meantime let's hope Tamiya will re re the Super Astute again so I can have one to run! Hopefully some of you will enjoy seeing this totally original one in its full glory. Cheers for watching as always! 🙏 ✌️
Now that, guys, is one very beautiful Tamiya buggy! They don't come much better than this! I loved looking at it in the clear Lexan and decals, and then we get a bonus of seeing it painted in the box art red! AWESOME!!! Lovely photos and a nice relaxing backing track to top it off - superb! 😁😁👌👌👍👍
Cheers Mark! 🍻 Yeah, more of a relaxed vibe on this one after the recent heart wrenching carnage of TT02 speed run videos! Tamiya got the styling so right on this buggy, it's such a looker. I was originally going to leave it clear so it's internals could be seen..... but something just wasn't right, it needed that trademark deep red paintwork I think! Cheers for watching buddy. 😊 👍 👍 👍
Definitely mate...... I am very particular about having the correct period electronics in all of my vintage restorations- original motors, servos, manual speed controllers and of course the resistor! In reality, they were crap back then.... chasing your run away car across the road after the NICD died and the MSC stuck on full power, dust on the metal contacts, and burning your finger on the resistor cage!!! But that's all part of the nostalgia, and that's how the original models need to be restored! I'm more than happy to run a TBLE-02S or hobbywing 1060 in my re re's and modern cars though.... combine that with modern motors and lipo power and we are well and truly spoilt!! 🤣 Cheers for watching and commenting Fil. 😊 👍 👍 👍
Stunning example of one James! It looks fabulous and I am glad you finally found the one you were looking for! That one deserves its own sealed display case!
Cheers Addam!! Took nearly 4 years to find a good enough un molested one, but got there in the end matey! It's quite suprising how few of these are around these days, especially in original condition. I think many were raced/messed about with, combine that with a relatively short production period and you have quite a rare car. Yep, this is going to be one of those models that spends the rest of its days on display..... but I know I don't have to justify that one to you as I know you get where I'm coming from buddy! 🤣 👍 👍 👍
Cheers buddy! I love this car so much...... and have been after one since it was first released back in 1989!! Took a long time, but finally got a tottaly mint one in the collection! Hope all is well well your end Pete! Cheers for stopping by mate. 😊 👍 👍 👍
Cheers Fred! Oh yeah, I'm with you 100% on that one. It looks so much better, and the chassis design is so quirky with all its over engineered adjustability..... But I bet the TD2 is a far better drive/chassis design overall mate! Now time to hunt down a super Astute for a runner!! 🤣 Cheers for stopping by matey. 😊 👍 👍 👍
Hey Sean, cheers for stopping by my friend. 😊 A true Tamiya icon this one eh! Sorry there's no running footage mate, I would love to take it for a few laps around the garden...... but I just don't trust those ageing plastic hubs which are impossible to find these days (they are different from the super Astute), especially bearing in mind how heavy this car is! Wish Tamiya would re re the original so I can have one to run as well, sadly I can't see that happening. But, she looks delightful on the shelf! 👍 👍 👍
@@yodadarksideGreenHawksRC Yes. A re release of this would be awesome especially now that 2wd rear motor buggies are back in demand. In the meantime, enjoy your self queen. She’s gorgeous.👍😊
Cheers fella! Yeah for sure, I love that low slung look to this one. I was tempted to leave the shell clear, but I think the box art red adds to look! Cheers for watching mate. 😊 👍 👍 👍
Cheers matey! Something extra special about these vintage buggies from my childhood, maybe it's just nostalgia..... but these things definitely look devine! 👌 Cheers for watching fella. 😊 👍 👍 👍
Nothing to say but AWESOME!!! This is one where I think Tamiya have to drop the Super Astute on us again. We keep seeing rereleases of the Egress and the Avante. It makes no sense not to do another production run of the Super Astute. You did a great job brother, don’t go smashing it up in a car park will you…. 😉
Lol.... No car park for this one Craig, have you seen what my driving is like?!! 🤣 😂 This one's for the shelf I'm afraid, but yeah definitely hoping to see the super Astute again to build in view of being a runner version of this platform. I'm pretty sure we will see it again,the demand is certainly there mate! Cheers for watching buddy. 😊 👍 👍 👍
Hiya Dirk! Awesome sums it up, just as it states on the rear wing eh mate?!! Yeah, I always like to keep my genuine vintage models to exact period specifications..... manual speed control and resistor included! But, I'm certainly happy to be running modern ESC'S in my re re and modern cars..... they are definitely sooo much better! Cheers for stopping by bud. 😊 👍 👍 👍
Cheers Joe! Managed to make the most of the last few days of UK summer sunshine to get a few shots of this one for the 'Summer photo shoot' series. Also got some shots of the top force evo, so hopefully that one will be coming soon. Cheers for watching matey. 🙏 👍 👍 👍
Cheers Mr Dom! 🙏 Yeah, Tamiya really got the styling spot on with this one mate. It's so over engineered though, a clever bit of design..... but it does create quite a lot of slop in many of the moving parts.... and it weighs an absolute ton! There's over 40 bearings in this kit!! 🤣 Cheers for watching buddy. 👍 👍 👍
Beautiful buggy, this one! I was surprised to see it was unpainted but with all the stickers on, looked cool in its own way... But then it got a nice coat of red, very good! And I guess you needed to be extra careful of overspray with the stickers already on... Great job, it looks awesome! Any chance for a gentle run with it? I see it only has partial electronics in it... And of course the weather is probably not favourable next half year or so... Thanks for taking the time to show it to us!
Cheers Mads!! Yeah mate, it came unpainted but stickered..... I actually thought it looked kinda cool clear and was tempted to leave it that way! But, it just didn't look finished so I had to get the PS2 red out! (7 layers at that! 🤣) Yep, had to be very thorough with the masking to avoid overspray on the decals..... original decals now cost the price of an entry level kit!!! In all honesty I'm very scared to run it, the ageing plastic hubs are near on impossible to find now should one shatter..... but I am looking for a super Astute as a runner. I do put servos and motor in all of my shelf queens though. Cheers for stopping by Mads. 🙏 👍 👍 👍
Cheers fella! Took some time to finally get one of these in the collection, thought it would be nice to get some shots in the last of the summer sunshine!! A truly beautiful buggy for sure. Cheers for watching and taking the time to comment mate. 🙏 👍 👍 👍
She's a thing of beauty that's for sure Bob....and the original Astutes are pretty hard to find these days over here in the UK. An iconic model in the Tamiya time line. Cheers for stopping by matey! 😊 👍 👍 👍